HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian markets fluctuated Monday after the Group of Seven meeting ended with deep divisions between the US and its allies, while investors are looking ahead to Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. While the historic gathering in Singapore is the big story of the week, key central bank decisions in the US and Europe will also be closely followed. Trump pulled out of endorsing a joint communique […]
Europe
Trade spat looms as Trump heads for hostile G7
by Dave Clark / and Laurence Benhamou © Agence France-Presse QUEBEC CITY, Canada (AFP) — Europe and hosts Canada warned US President Donald Trump on Thursday that they will not be intimidated at the G7 summit, despite fears that a trade war will weaken the Western alliance. With the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies due in Quebec, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned the US leader that they would not roll over on […]
New group hopes to end Catholic church child abuse
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Child abuse victims and human rights activists from 15 countries on Thursday launched a new pressure group to campaign against abuse by Catholic clerics. “The church has got away with crime for too long”, said Peter Saunders, a British survivor of abuse, announcing the creation of the Ending Clerical Abuse (ECA) group at a press conference in Geneva. “ECA stands to compel the Roman catholic church to end clerical abuse, […]
Spain swears in new cabinet with record number of women
by Patrick Rahir Agence France Presse MADRID, Spain (AFP) — King Felipe VI on Thursday swore in Spain’s new pro-EU government with a record 11 women members including in key posts such as defence and economy, and six male ministers. With just 84 seats in Spain’s 350-seat parliament, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s administration also has the smallest representation of any government since the country returned to democracy and it is not expected to […]
Calls grow in Germany to expel disputed US envoy
by Hui Min Neo © Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — A member of the German government on Tuesday accused the new US ambassador in Berlin of meddling in domestic politics and aggravating already tense ties, as left-wing parties called for the staunch ally of Donald Trump to be expelled. Richard Grenell took up his Berlin posting on May 8 and immediately irked Germany when he tweeted the same day that German companies should stop doing […]
One dead as record storms sweep across France
PARIS, France (AFP) — A man was found drowned in his car in northern France on Tuesday following a fresh round of powerful rainstorms that have damaged homes, destroyed vineyards and flooded roads over the last fortnight. An unusually long bout of warm and humid weather across the country has led to a series of thunderstorms that have dropped record amounts of rain in some areas. National weather service Meteo France said it estimated the […]
The deadliest volcanic eruptions of the past 25 years
PARIS, France (AFP) — After Guatemala’s Fuego volcano erupted on Sunday killing at least 69 people, here is a list of the most deadly volcanic eruptions over the last quarter century. 2014: Japan The sudden eruption of Mount Ontake kills more than 60 people in Japan’s worst volcanic disaster in nearly 90 years. The 3,067 meter (10,121 feet) Ontake is packed with hikers when it erupts without warning in September. Also in Japan, the Unzen […]
Spain’s ousted PM Rajoy to quit as conservative party leader
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Mariano Rajoy, a major figure of Spanish politics over the past 14 years, announced Tuesday he will quit as head of the conservative Popular Party (PP) after being ousted as prime minister last week. “I think the time has come to put a final full stop to this period. The PP must keep advancing and building its history at the service of Spaniards under the leadership of another person,” he told […]
Ukrainian president defends faking journalist’s murder
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Ukrainian President Petro Porochenko defended staging the killing of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko to foil what Kiev said was an assassination plot by Moscow, saying in an interview published Tuesday that it was needed to “protect freedom of the press”. “Those who criticize us would they have preferred that the Russian secret services kill this journalist?” Porochenko asked in an interview published in top-selling Spanish newspaper El Pais when asked […]
“Nobody could have suspected what was happening” – First person account of a flash flood in Germany
“Keiner hätte damit gerechnet, was sich tatsächlich draußen abspielte …” ein persönlicher Bericht über einen Sturzflut in Deutschland By Irene-Juliet Arzadon of Wuppertal, Germany, EBC Correspondent (Translation from German to English by Malou Francisco) Eagle News Service WUPPERTAL, Germany (Eagle News) — 29. Mai wurden wir in Wuppertal von einem heftigen Unwetter überrascht. (May 29 – We, in Wuppertal, were surprised by a violent storm.) So gegen 15:30 Uhr fing es mit einem starken […]
Russia wants ‘united and prosperous EU’: Putin
VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin on Monday downplayed suggestions Russia was seeking to disrupt the European Union’s cohesion, saying it was in his country’s interests for the bloc to remain “united and prosperous”. “We have an interest in an EU that’s united and prosperous, since the EU is our most important commercial and economic partner,” Putin told Austria’s ORF television a day before an official visit to Vienna. “The more problems at the heart […]
More than 50 migrants die in Mediterranean crossings
by Ala Sakka with Aymen Jamli in Tunis Agence France Presse More than 50 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean on Sunday, the majority off the coasts of Tunisia and Turkey, while Italy marked a sea change in its policy. Tunisian authorities said 48 bodies were recovered off the country’s southern coast, close to the city of Sfax, while 68 people were rescued. “The boat had a maximum capacity of 75 to 90 people, but […]